A multilayered shell of alternating metal and insulator layers makes an object invisible. Light flows around it like water around a smooth pebble: no ripples, no splash. It doesn't matter what's hidden – a metal sphere or a plastic star; the shell works equally across the entire visible spectrum. The layer thicknesses are calculated so that the outer ones cancel the scattering from the inner ones, much like opposing water waves cancel out a swell. Light travels at its usual speed but bypasses the obstacle, reducing scattering a thousandfold. Remarkably, the camouflage covers all colors at once – from violet to red. Not a single hue gives away what's hidden.
In nature, glass sponges use the same principle – their transparent bodies are nearly invisible in water.
The fantastical invisibility cloak takes on real features in these laboratory studies.